Action



vUNITED STATES PATENT oFFioE.

JOHN RUCK, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PIANOFORTE-ACTION.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 7,976, dated March 11, 1851.

To all whom t may concern: Be it. known that I, JOHN BUCK, ofthe city,county, and State of New York, have invented cer ain new and usefulImprovements in the Action or Striking Parts of Pianofortes; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming part of this specification, in whicht Figure 1, is aside elevation. Fig. 2,' is a view of the repeating spring detached.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each of thefigures.

The nature of my invention consists, 1st., in an improvement in themanner of forming the communication between the fly level' and thehammer by which greater freedom of action is obtained, and the hammermade -to strike with greater force upon the string,

by a given touch upon the key. 2nd in an improved spring which I term auni versal repeating spring for preventing the fall of the hammer beyondany desired point, when it escapes after striking the string and forpreventing it being disconnected from the fly lever. 3rd in animprovement in the manner of attaching and operating the check wire. 4thin an vimprovement in t-he manner of regulating the escapement of thehammer from the Hy lever for the purpose, of allowing the key to beeasily taken out.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, is a bottom piece, B, a side piece, and C and D, rails or bars towhich the working parts of the action are secured.

E, is the key working upon a Xed center pin a, and kept in place by aguide pin b, its back end when at rest falls on a cushion c.

F, represents the string.

G is the hammer, I-I, its shank, which hangs on a pivot or pin CZ, in abutt I, secured by a screw c, to the rail C; the shank is hung at apoint a short distance from its ends, forming a lever with a long andshort arm.

J, is the iiy lever or jack hung on a pivot f, on the bed K, which issecured by screws g, g, to the upper side of the key E, in such a mannerthat it-s height can be regulated. n, is the returning spring whichpulls back the fly lever.

L, is what I term the spring lever, hung at a distance from its center,on a pivot z', at the lower part of the butt I. y 1 M, is a link havinga pivot joint j or other hinge joint at each end, connecting the frontor shorter end of the spring lever L, and the end of the hammer shankI-I. The spring lever L, performs the duty performed in other actions bythe under hammer, it is through it that the fly lever J, is made to 4actuate the hammer; it has a projection lr,

on its under side which is nearly of right angle form being slightlyrounded and c0vered (as is usual with all the striking or rubbing partsof piano-forte actions) with leather or some other soft substance; thecorner of this projection 7c, rests when the key is out of action cn theback corner of the upper side of the ily lever which is also slightlyrounded olf. At the back end of the lever is attached the universalrepeating spring m., whose form is best seen in Fig. 2; it is made ofline wire coiled at Z, and having an arm m, bent at nearly a right angleto the part proceeding from the coil, the end of the arm is flattenedand covered by a pad n, of leather or other soft material; the coiledpart is let into a notch at the end of 4the lever, and the straight endo, is driven into the lever, the arm m, extending under it a pin p, isinserted transversely through the lever passing through the coil Z, thecoil being lined with a piece of clot-h or leather to prevent the springjarring; this spring` may also be made flat and secured in anyconvenient way to the lever. The pad n, rests upon the top of the flylever at Q, where it is beveled off, instead of being square as it isusually made. On the under side of vthe spring lever is a small arm N,standing at nearly right angles to it, and through this arm is screwedthe regulating screw i, at 'whose end there is a knob covered withleather or other soft substance. A cushion or pad s, is placed under thelever L, be-A rail D; its other end rests on a cushion u, on the end ofthe key. fv, is a cushion on the rail or bar D, for the hammer to fallupon.

'Ihe operation is as follows: Then the key is struck by the player itsback end is thrown up, and the fly lever raises the back end of thespring lever L, pulling down the front end and the short end of thehammer shank, throwing up the hammer with great velocity and force andstriking the string. Just before the hammer strikes the string, the backend of the lever L, by its upward motion carries the arm N, back andbrings the regulating screw fr, to bear upon the fly lever and push itback so that at the moment the hammer strikes, the iiy lever escapesfrom the corner, of the projection 7c, and the hammer is relieved fromthe string. It will be` seen that after the Hy lever escapes beyond theprojection 7s, that the hammer would fall of its .own weight, but thatit is arrested by the repeating spring which resting on the fly leversupports the lever L, being bent or set to allow the hammer to fall avery short distance. just sufficient to relieve itself from the string;the hammer cannotl fall until the player withdraws his pressure from thekey when it falls gradually, the fly lever by the action of therepeating spring being enabled to pass the projection 70, on its return,and never being ont of communication with the hammer, so that the hammeris completely under the control of the player who can produce a delicateand rapid repeat.

The effect of the repeating spring is the same as that of the springtongue for which Letters Patent were granted to me on the sixteenth dayof April, one thousand eight hundred and fifty, but I prefer it as beingmore simple in its construction and equally well suited to produce aperfect effect, it is adapted to any piano forte action applied to theend of the lever or butt which is acted upon by the fly lever or ack.

rllhe regulating screw 1^, is for the purpose of regulating theescapement of the fly lever, by screwing it in toward the fly lever, itwill be made to escape sooner and weaken the blow of the hammer byscrewing it out or from the fly lever it may be made to increase theforce of the blow and lessen the escapement, such regulating screws areenr ployed in other actions but are fixed, the manner in which I applyit, brings it more gradually into operation and prevents concussions.

rlhe hammer in all actions known to me, is hung on a hinge or joint atthe extreme end of the shank which is termed the butt, and the underhammer acts upon it nearly close to the hinge, but by hanging it on ahinge at a distance from the end of the shank as herein described andoperating it by pulling down the end a sharper and more forcible blowcan be obtained.

The mechanism of this action can be more easily taken ont for thepurpose of repairs, than that of any other action, by taking out thescrew e, the butt I, may be removed, and with it the hammer and springlever L, one screw alone being necessary to secure the whole in place.The check wire being detached admits of the key being taken out withfacility, while its operation is equally effective upon the hammer.

IV hat I claim as new in my invention and desire to secure by LettersPatent isl. Hanging the hammer shank on a hinge or joint CZ, at adistance from its end, and effecting its communication with the flylever or jack by means of a lever L, which is hung on a fulcrum z', at adistance from either end and is connected at one end by a hinged orjointed link with the end of the hammer shank in such a manner that whenthe fly lever is raised by the key the end of the hammer shank is drawndown and the hammer thrown up to the string, or by any other meanssubstantially the saine.

Q. lThe universal repeating spring m, attached to the lever or butt uponwhich is formed the projections 7c, or its equivalent through which thefly lever communicates with the hammer for the purpose of raising it,and working upon the end of the fly lever, in the manner substantiallyas and for the purpose herein set forth. This I claim withoutreferenceto the precise form of the projection or of the spring herein shown, asvarious modifications may be made for producing the same effect.

8. Attaching the check wire to a hanging or hinged butt Q., operatedupon by the key in the manner substantially as described, so as toproduce the same effect as if attached to the key, for the purpose of.allowing the key to be easily taken out.

41. Securing or placing the regulating screw 7, for controlling orregulating the escapement of the fly lever, in an arm N, or itsequivalent upon the lever upon which the fly lever acts, by which theaction of the said screw upon the fly lever is more gradual and easy,and the jarring or concussion produced when the screw is stationary isavoided.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name before twowitnesses, this 15th day of November, 1850.

JOHN BUCK.

Witnesses c 0. D. MUNN, JN0. N. VVEsTnRvEL'r.

